OAU SPELLING BEE

OAU SPELLING BEE
Many young people have heard about and seen the movie “Akeela and the Bee.” Little did they know that such a competition that entails knowing the spelling of words would ever be done in OAU. Reminiscent also of the Lagos State Spelling Bee competition, the OAU spelling was anticipated by the very few people that heard about it. The programme was scheduled to hold the African Amphi Theatre, but at the eleventh hour, the event’s venue was changed to the Anglo-Moz car park. In the usual fashion of most Nigerians, we never begin our event on time. Although scheduled to commence at 7PM, the event never began till 8.15PM.
Some of the Spelling Bee Contestants Atoyebi Josephine, the chief speaker of the winning group

The panel of judges The prizes
The OAU anthem was sung even as a number of freshers kept (maybe because they were yet to get accustomed to our aluta song). Although the sound system initially messed-up, the Spelling Bee competition took proper shape in earnest even as the Students’ Union’s PRO was throwing a tantrum of Wole Soyinka-ish words that were a coalescence of pockets of grammatical errors. There were a total of eighteen candidates in all, but just one person carried the day. The event was an eye-opener for many who had earlier believed they knew the right spelling of some words. Most people then discovered that they could not even spell such ‘simple’ words as advice, envelop, price, strife and anarchism. Mohammed Kolawole stole the show as he emerge the winner of the Spelling Bee, walking to his hostel with a DVD player (I was left wondering if he had a TV to connect the DVD to). Ogunfeyitimi Olamide walked away with a Microwave oven as the first-runner up while Salami, the second-runner up walked away with a fan. Other participants went to their halls with consolation prizes.
After the Spelling Bee competition, a keenly contested debate competition took the center-stage. There were two groups. The topic was “Formal Education: An asset or a liability.” The debaters from the two sides proved their mettle but the group whose chief speaker was Atoyebi Josephine carried the day. Josephine proved her point in such a way that the most unintelligible person could have understood. In fact, one must say that the Josephine and her group belong to a distinguished set of debaters. Of course, they all did not go back to their hostels empty-handed.
The judges were indefatigable and largely impartial in their judgments. All humans are fallible, so the judges at one point or the other may not have been in the good books of some members of the audience. But by and large, they were fair. KUDOS!
Speaking on behalf of those that witnessed the event, I would urge the Students’ Union to continue to organize such an educational programme. To the Students’ Union, I say KUDOS!
Mahatma Honey
… the great soul …